Greetings everyone. Let’s turn to Proverbs Chapter 31 and we’ll begin reading in verse 1. This is the fifth part of the book of Proverbs and the last part of the book of Proverbs, as we have gone through this Bible Study through this tremendous book.
So we’ll take a little time today in going through this chapter. It’s a very important chapter. A lot of wonderful Christian principles that can be applied in a very real and practical way in everyday living. Notice here, it says in Chapter 31 in verse 1:
1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Now, who is this talking about, Lemuel? Well, when you check the Hebrew, the word “Lemuel” means belonging to God. And most authorities on the subject point out that this is a figurative name, and it’s probably talking about Solomon. And the mother then that is talked about in verse 1 would be Bathsheba, his mother. I personally feel that that is what it’s talking about. It just makes sense. God has inspired this man, Solomon, to write this entire book of Proverbs. Why would He get to Chapter 31 and have someone else write it?
If He did have someone else write it, He’s still inspired these words. So these are still words from God. But it just seems logical that this is a figurative name for the king—King Solomon—meaning devoted to God. And therefore it just makes sense that this is referring to Solomon and his mother, Bathsheba, as his mother teaches him lessons and as he records it and as God inspires the whole thing. And we can all learn from it.
So, anyway, that’s not absolutely provable or dogmatic, but that certainly appears to be who this king is. It probably is King Solomon and his mother, Bathsheba. Notice verse 2:
2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?
Now, that’s an interesting way, that’s an interesting wording there in verse 2, an interesting way to put it. It seems like she’s simply saying, “Let’s see now, how do I say this, my son? How can I get this across to you? How can I make this plain? What should I say? How should I say it?” She’s meditating about it. She’s thinking about it. She’s taking it very seriously. She loves her son. She wants to give him good information. She wants to give him good overall instruction and direction. And so she’s considering how to go about doing that—just as any loving mother would toward any son that she has given birth to and brought up and continues to want to help and serve and guide.
3 Give not your strength unto women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings.
We shouldn’t give our strength to anyone. We give our strength to Almighty God. That’s who we devote our life to, our energy to, our intellect to, our talent to, our time to. First and foremost, we give ourselves over to God. We don’t give our best to others, and we don’t give our strength to others. Of course, we serve others as best we can and we do it with all of our might. And of course, we are concerned about others, men and women and children.
But the one that we’re the most concerned with and the one we give the most to and the one that we devote the most strength to is Almighty God. And yet as quite often is the case, men become filled with lust toward women—and not all men do, and none should, and certainly Christian men must not. But as quite often as the case, men become filled with lust toward women, and more and more women are becoming filled with lust toward men. And that just saps the very life out of either the man or the woman.
The man that gets filled with lusting after women begins to give his thought, his energy, his money, his time to those women. And therefore he gives his strength, his authority, his position of leadership over to those women. They begin to take up his time, take up everything that he has. And he starts to lose strength and lose money and lose prestige because he is being weakened down by his own lust.
3 —nor your ways to that which destroys kings.
And whether it is with women or it’s with gambling or it’s with giving oneself over to alcohol or to any kind of bad conduct, God is warning all of us, and figuratively speaking, Solomon’s mother is warning him, “Don’t do that, but stay strong and conduct yourself in a proper way so that you could continue to lead and help and serve others.”
Verse 3 is an important warning to everyone and to all of us. It has to do really with the way we conduct our lives on a daily basis and how we relate to others. God wants us to conduct our lives and relate to others, men and women, in a proper and appropriate, respectful, Christian way. Not in a lustful way that just pursues gratification and fulfilling our wrong appetites and therefore then we’re brought down and ultimately destroyed. Because that’s what sin does.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Now, we have to put all the scriptures together on any one subject in order to really reach the right conclusion. We know that God does not forbid drinking wine or strong drink as long as it is done with moderation. And so that’s what He’s saying here. You have to get it in context. Continue now in verse 5.
5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment—
or justice
5 —of any of the afflicted.
Or sons of affliction. What He’s saying is this: Do not drink alcohol, do not drink wine, do not drink strong drink when you are fulfilling your duties as a king or you are in a position to begin making decisions and meting out justice. Because if you do drink wine or strong drink, it can cause you to have a kind of disorientation in judgment. It can pervert or distort or render less effective your conclusions, your recommendations, your decisions. And so that’s what it’s saying. It’s not saying that this king could never drink wine, could never have a strong drink as long, as it was done in moderation and never even getting close to drunkenness.
What it’s saying is, when we’re on the job, whoever we might be—driving for instance, or in the office—when we’re working, when we’re carrying out our responsibilities and we’re making choices and reaching conclusions, we ought not be mixing that with alcohol because we will not reach the same sound, clean, crisp, proper, topnotch decision and choice that we otherwise would. Because when you have a nice glass of wine, we tend to relax a bit and we get a little more casual and not as sharp and as on top of everything as we ought to be at work and when we’re doing our jobs. We tend not to be as quick and as discerning. We tend not to be able to marshal the facts and line them up and reach as proper and excellent choice, decision and conclusion as we otherwise would. And so that’s all this is saying here, and that’s the lesson all of us can take from it.
6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Now, once again, we have to take this in context. We have to put it with other verses in the Bible. He’s not saying if somebody is depressed or discouraged or facing a very dangerous situation, maybe even facing death, he’s not saying, “Well, get him drunk.” That’s not it. I mean, other verses in the Bible tell us very clearly that no drunkard will enter into the kingdom of heaven. There’s never a time when anybody should ever get drunk and there’s never a time when anyone should ever even get close to being an alcoholic or a drunkard.
But there is a time when a glass of wine is delicious, and even healthful according to the current school of thought from authorities that have researched it carefully, with a nice meal or with a friend in front of a fireplace, etc., or a nice cold beer out on the patio on a hot day. Or there is a time when even a strong drink of alcohol in moderation, not very much, could fit a situation of socializing and fellowshipping, always within God’s law.
There’s a time when we can be really tired, when we can be under a lot of pressure, when we can be a little bit discouraged and a very good glass of wine or a strong drink can help us just relax, kickback, ease up, disengage a bit and take a break. And that’s what it’s saying here. That’s the proper use of alcohol and that’s the only way it could ever be used or should ever be used. I’m not getting into the subject of alcoholism. That’s something that if a person has, they can talk to counselors, to doctors, to ministers. And they’ll probably say you should never touch it because if you do, it could trigger the problem again. That’s a different matter.
We’re talking about a situation where in normal circumstances a person could have in moderation a drink of alcohol, and in some cases it can certainly help one relax and turn loose of the pressure and take a little bit of a break. And so that’s what verse 6 is saying.
7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
He can face it again in the morning.
8 Open your mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Now, King Solomon or this King Lemuel was in a position to help those that were in trouble, help those that did not have a defendant, if you please—someone who could advocate and defend and intercede for them. And so his mother—and God is inspiring this directive—not only to him, however, but to any of us and all Christians: be concerned about those who are helpless, those who are speechless.
8 —in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Or sons of passing away, etc. They’re in a fix, they’re in a predicament, they’re in a situation where they’re in big trouble and they have no one to help them. They have no one to turn to, and we have the ability to help them. We’re somebody they can turn to. We can make a difference.
Well, as Christians, we better step up and do what we can. We better step up and care for those who are helpless and those who have nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. They’re trying to do all they can. They need a boost. They need a jumpstart, and we can give it to them. Well, we’re supposed to love our neighbor. We’re to supposed to do that, and especially if we are in a position where we have the authority or the means or the wherewithal to make a difference, and they will take that difference and use it properly. And that’s what’s being said right here in verse 8.
9 Open your mouth, and judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Don’t let them be mistreated. Don’t let them be run over. Don’t let them be neglected. Don’t just spend your time with people who are doing well. Spend some of your time with people who need help, and make a difference in their lives. We know what the Bible says about widows and orphans. We know how God feels about children. You can read that throughout the Bible. And as we develop the mind of Jesus Christ, and as we develop the thought process of God the Father, we’ll begin feeling that way as well toward widows and orphans and toward the poor and needy and toward the disenfranchised and the down–and–out—those who need a break and will do something with that break and we’re in a position to give them or help give them that break or point them where they can get a perk or a break or an opportunity.
9 —and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
You know, we could be poor and needy sometime. And many of us have been in the past. And there’s coming a time where we could again. And all of us have been poor and needy as far as our spiritual lives are concerned. And Jesus Christ stepped up and through His sacrifice and through His love pulled us back from the brink and reconciled us to the Father, and He made all the difference in the world in our lives. Well, as we strive to grow more and more like Him, we need to do what we can, too, in a balanced way—not being taken advantage of, not being used, not being mistreated, not being overrun, not cultivating people who are just going to be moochers and lazy bums and drain us dry—that’s not what it’s talking about. But it is talking about having empathy and having compassion on those that we can help, and that will properly appreciate that help and do something with it. And whatever position we might be in—even in a position of authority—we’re supposed to have that attitude and we’re supposed to have that approach.
Now we get to verse 10. I want to take a little time with the remainder of the chapter because it’s a special part of the Bible. Proverbs 31:10–31 talks about the virtuous woman, and it’s an incredible section of the Bible. It is really a very special passage of scripture. We need to take a little time with it so that we can understand fully the lessons that God has inspired here.
It’s talking about women, but it’s also talking about Christianity. It’s talking about children. It’s talking about husbands. It’s talking about married women, but many of the lessons here apply to unmarried women and women of any status and in any circumstance or situation. Proverbs 31:10–31 is known as a Hebrew acrostic writing or composition. The acrostic form of writing can be found in other places in the Bible, for instance in Psalm chapter 119.
An acrostic is a composition, usually in verse, in which sets of letters taken in order form a word or phrase or a regular sequence of letters of the alphabet. And in this case, the regular sequence has to do with the sequence of verses from verse 10 all the way down through 31 using the Hebrew alphabet.
The twenty–two verses in Proverbs 31:10–31, these twenty–two verses each begin with the twenty letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and it’s a consecutive writing. In other words, each one of these twenty–two verses start with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and they go through the Hebrew alphabet, each one of these verses, consecutively—an incredible piece of writing when you understand all of that!
It’s an amazing thing when you read the Bible and realize how God has inspired it and how God chose men who were talented and who yielded to Him so God could use their talent. To sit down and begin to write twenty–two verses, and each one start with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and do so consecutively, and have all of it make sense, and have all of it be a wonderful flowing composition is an amazing thing. And more than that, God is the one who did it through the writer. But the writer had to yield to Him and had to have the ability that God used to do this. So it’s a masterpiece of writing just to look at it from a literary point of view.
Now as far as a virtuous woman, what does that mean?
10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
Her worth, her value is far above rubies. And virtuous—well, literally that means a wife of valor. Who can find a woman of valor? Virtuous in the Hebrew means a force. It means valor. It means strength.
So a better translation there would read: “Who can find a strong, worthy woman of valor?” That’s what virtuous means. Now it also means morally excellent. Virtuous means that, but when you get the proper translation, it also means personal bravery. This is a brave woman, a woman of valor, of strength, and a woman of great value, of courage. That’s all a part of what we’re going to read here when we go through the remainder of Proverbs 31. It’s all a part of what God means when He talks about a woman who is a virtuous woman.
Now I wanted to also turn to a couple of other verses to kind of lay the groundwork for going through this extremely wonderful section of scripture. Speaking of women, God talks about women a lot in the Bible. He uses a woman as the symbol of His church. He calls His church a woman in various places of the Bible. That’s a very, very high honor that God would call His church, in spiritual terms, a woman. And I want to turn to a couple of verses over here in Genesis 1:26. God says here in Genesis 1:26:
26 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:—
Then notice what He says in verse 27.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
So there’s so much said about men, women, male, female, and it all gets all turned around and messed up. To really understand the truth about men, women, male, female, masculinity, femininity—we have to go to the Bible. And when you do that, we’re all equal in God’s sight, and God loves all of us the same. And He designed men to fulfill certain responsibilities and He designed women to fulfill certain other responsibilities. And together they make a whole complete team. And wonderful things can be done through a man and a woman in marriage. But wonderful things can be done through a man by himself and a woman by herself. It’s a matter of yielding to God.
But I wanted to emphasize the point that, men and women, we were both made in the image of God. There’s no favoritism here. There’s no partiality. There’s no second class citizen involved in either a man or a woman. We’re all made in God’s image. We’re all equal in His sight. He loves all of us the same.
One other quick scripture we’ll go to is over here in Titus 2. This goes against the grain of what’s happening in our society today in terms of women, certainly in our western society. Now, of course, we know that women are abused and mistreated way too much all over the world. And that’s always wrong. It’s disgusting, frankly. But on the other hand, we also know that women are more and more getting involved in things other than taking care of the home, taking care of the family, taking care of responsibilities that have to do with home and family—which is one of the highest callings anybody could ever have. So there’s got to be a reexamination of the roles of men and women in life and in the home and in the family if we’re going to achieve the ultimate potential and happiness that God wants us to have. Just notice here in Titus 2:4, to break into a thought:
4 That they may teach—
or admonish
4 —the young women to be sober,—
Notice:
4 —to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,—
And a better translation is: Homemakers. To be homemakers.
5 —good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Now He has instructions here for aged men and aged women, and young men as well. But He also has instructions for young women, and this could apply to women of all ages. And what does He say here? Homemakers.
And so one of the greatest responsibilities that a woman has is to take care of the home and be a homemaker. It’s not drudgery. It’s not second class work. It’s work of the highest order. It is an honor, according to God’s word, for a woman to be a homemaker and to take care of the family and to take care of the responsibilities in the home and of the husband. And we’re going to find that out as we go back here to Proverbs 31 and begin in verse 10 and finish up the chapter on this subject of a virtuous woman.
This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.